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November 13, 2006
Who Should Choose the LtGov?
More people are chiming in on the revelation that Sen. Mike Williams may leave the Republican fold for the ostensible yet incomprehensible purpose of supporting Speaker John Wilder for another term.
One post that caught my attention was David Oatney's, because, for one thing, Oatney resides in the 4th District. I encourage you to read it.
Back yet? Okay, here's one bit that bothered me:
In Tennessee, the presiding officer of the Senate also serves as the Lieutenant Governor. Unlike many, I actually support this system and I believe it is constitutionally sound in the long run and should be maintained. It is a system that is designed to insure, at least in theory, that the majority party in the State Senate (the Upper House) gets to choose the State's second most powerful executive officer. [Emphasis added.]
Here's where it gets slightly more delicate for me. Under a number of different circumstances, I would admire a Mike Williams for choosing differently than his political party demands. It just seems that in this specific case, there is the "payback" element at work (Williams was appointed Speaker Pro Tem by Wilder after supporting him last time), plus the general consensus that Wilder's most effective days are in the past.
Assuming that we don't make Lieutenant Governor a popularly elected position, can we just leave it at "the State Senate gets to choose the State's second most powerful executive officer"? No implication is needed about which party has a majority. (I'd prefer it if no party had a majority, and that coalitions were formed instead to more directly represent the diverse interests of our citizens, but that's a different post.) The responsibility of the Speaker/Lt. Gov. position does not lie with a political party. Period. The position is not a prize to be handed to a party just because citizens happened to elect slightly more of These than of Those in individual races around the state.
I know that the two-party system is quite entrenched here, even leading to the fact of blank ballot spots for "the other" party when no candidate qualified (but no arbitrary blank lines for Green, Libertarian, or any other -- even Independent). However, this will never change as long as we don't will it, and as long as people like Sen. Williams feel that they must actually leave a party in order to vote like an individual.
Again, I don't support his choice because of the particulars involved; but in principle, I not only support it, but demand it. In other words, Democratic Senators should feel no more obligation to vote for Wilder than GOP Senators have to support Ron Ramsey. Every man and woman should be free to decide as he or she sees fit, and if, as David Oatney exemplifies, the voters in their districts deem it necessary to unseat them, that's how it should go down.
Political News | By joe lance | 12:58 PM